The House of Christina

by Ben Haas

Vienna, 1938: All that was noble and beautiful, all the grace of an opulent era, gone with the winds of war!
And in the center of the growing holocause stood:
Christa--the beautiful, frivolous young mistress of Christina Hof whose flowering into womanhood was accompanied by the distant thunder of guns.
Herr Helmer--a national hero haunted by past wars and devoted to his spirited daughter.
Robert--who shared with Christa an idyllic childhood. Now his passions has grown - for her, and the Nazi regime he was ready to die for.
Josef--the sensual, brilliant Jew, whose anti-Hitler plot drew Christa into a maelstrom of terror.
Lan Condon--the peace-loving American who found respite from tragedy, and a love greater than he had known with Christa. He thrust himself into the cauldron of war to save them both from tyranny.

Genres: Fiction, World War II, Historical Fiction

410 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Benjamin Leopold Haas was born in Charlotte , North Carolina in 1926. Mr. Haas stated in an interview that he inherited his love of books from his father, who would bid on hundreds of books at unclaimed freight auctions during the Depression. His imagination was also fired by the stories of the Civil War and Reconstruction told by his grandmother, who had lived through both. “My father was a pioneer operator of motion picture theatres”, Ben wrote. “So, I had free access to every theatre in Charlotte and saw countless films growing up, hooked on the lore of our own South and the Old West.” Dreaming about being a writer, 18-year-old Ben Haas sold a story to a Western pulp magazine. He dropped out of college to support his family. He was self-educated. He served in the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1946. He made Raleigh his home in 1959. Ben and his wife had three sons, Joel, Michael and John. Ben held various jobs until 1961, when he was working for a steel company. He had submitted a manuscript to Beacon Books, and an offer for more came just as he was laid off at the steel company. He became a full-time writer for the rest of his life. Ben wrote every day, every night. “I tried to write 5000 words or more every day, scrupulous in maintaining authenticity”, Ben said. His son Joel later recalled, “My Mom learned to go to sleep to the sound of a typewriter”.
His son John told me “It sounded like machine-gun fire coming out of his office”. Writing nonstop over the next 16 years, Ben Haas would create somewhere around 130 books under his own name and a dozen pen names.

Full Name: Benjamin Leopold Haas

Known Pseudonyms:
John Benteen
Thorne Douglas
Ben Elliott
Richard Meade
Quinn Reade
Jack Slade
Ben Stone

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

North Carolina Author. Must give 5 stars to my relatives :). He passed around 1977, I was too young to know him.
He's also written books under these pseudonyms: John Benteen, Thorne Douglas, Ben Elliott, Richard Meade, Quinn Reade, Jack Slade.
I read this when I was a kid.
This is a good war time/love story. You have an American man, who falls for an Austrian girl - who's father is a General. Her childhood friend turns Nazi.

[Kevin Mallik · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the power of Hitler rises during the Second World War, it echoes well in Austria as well. Nazis are rising and the House of Christina becomes a trap place for all three men, who with prolific madness crave for her. The House of Christina by Ben Haas is a terrific love story set amidst the mayhem of WWII. An American writer is confronted with Nazi-supporting thugs in Austria. He has to save Christa, his lover, from the vile clutches of Robert who once was her friend but now is so blind with the sway of Nazism that he even contemplates to kill her and others obstructing his political beliefs.

[Hilda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book.

[Elisabetta Gaffuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

In questo libro ho trovato ciò che più gradisco. Amore, storia, vita familiare. Scritto bene, scorrevole e non troppo zuccherino. Finale...si sa già da subito.

[Emil Kristjánsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mjög áhugaverð. Sterk persónusköpun og alls ekki sú ameríska sýn á Evrópu, sem ég átti von á.